Grooved plywood paneling

ABSTRACT

Prefinished plywood wall paneling having a face layer with a plurality of elongated and wide grooves which have a spacing and configuration giving the panel the feel and the appearance of a plurality of separate boards.

United States Patent Inventor Kenneth W. Guenther Portland, Oreg.

Appl. No. 7 2,831

Filed Jan. 14, 1970 Patented Oct. 26, 1971 Assignee Georgia-Pacific Corporation Portland, Oreg.

GROOVED PLYWOOD PANELING 4 Claims, 4 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 161/56, 161/113,16l/117,161/l23 Int. Cl B32b 3/30, B32b 5/12, B32b21/13 Field of Search 83/ Primary Examiner-Robert E. Burnett Assistant Examiner-Stephen M. Hoffman Attorney-Birch, Swindler, McKie & Beckett ABSTRACT: Prefinished plywood wall paneling having a face layer with a plurality of elongated and wide grooves which have a spacing and configuration giving the panel the feel and the appearance ofa plurality of separate boards.

PATENTEBum 26 mm BAA ATTORNEYS KENNETH W. GUENTHER BY RM, 5M,

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GROOVED PLYWOOD PANELING BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to prefinished plywood wall paneling and more particularly, to such paneling which is grooved to simulate separate boards.

In recent years, there has been a great upsurge in the use of prefinished plywood wall paneling. Such paneling conventionally employs a core material of relatively inexpensive wood and a thin veneer or face layer of more attractive and expensive wood. In some of the paneling heretofore available, grooves have been provided at spaced locations through the face layer to simulate the effect of a plurality of separate boards, rather than a single wide panel. While some success has been achieved with such grooved paneling, they have never really accomplished the desired effect of providing both the feel and appearance of separate boards.

To overcome the disadvantages of the prior art, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved plywood panel, e embodying a particular combination of face veneer strips separated by grooves of such a configuration and dimension relative to the strips to provide an enhanced feel and appearance of a plurality of separate boards.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention envisions a plywood wall panel made up of a relatively thick wood core layer and a relatively thin wood face layer adhesively joined to the core layer on at least one side thereof. The face layer and the core layer have their respective grains extending in mutually crossing directions. The panel is characterized by a plurality of elongated grooves parallel to the grain of the face layer, and from about sevensixteenths to about nine-sixteenths inch in width. The grooves extend completely through the face layer at locations spaced apart from about 3 to about 16 inches, center to center of the grooves, to define therebetween strips of the face layer. simulating separate boards. The grooves have opposed side walls extending downwardly from the outer surface of the face layer and substantially normal thereto through only a portion of the thickness of the face layer. Each groove also has a V-shaped bottom surface extending from the bottoms of the groove side walls and inclined downwardly through the remaining thickness of the face layer to an apex in the core layer so that the V-shaped bottom surface has relatively narrow edge portions defined by the face layer and a relatively wide central portion defined by the core layer. The strips between the grooves have a first decorative surface finish. The centralportion of the bottom of each groove, which portion lies in the core layer, has a second decorative surface finish contrasting with, and preferably darker than, the first decorative surface finish. The narrow edge portions of the grooves which are defined by the face layer, can have either the first or the second decorative surface finish. Preferably, the grooves are about one-half inch in width and are spaced apart from about 4 to about 12 inches center to center ofthe grooves.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS The invention having been generally described, it will now be set forth in greater detail with reference to preferred specific embodiments shown on the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view ofa the invention;

FIG. 2 is a front view of a modified embodiment of the invention having a spacing of the grooves varying from that of the panel of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary detail of the portion of the wall panel of FIG. 1 shown in the small dotted rectangle near the left hand side of FIG. I; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

plywood wall panel according to With reference to the drawings, there is shown in FIG. 1 a prefinished plywood wall panel 111. As best seen in FIG. 4, the panel Ill includes a core layer 112. of relatively inexpensive, readily available wood, such as lauan or Douglas fir. Adhesively joined to the opposite sides of the core layer 112 are a top face layer 13 and a bottom face layer M. The top face layer 113 which would normally face outwardly when the panel is installed on a wall, is formed from an attractive wood, usually a hardwood, such as walnut, mahogany, cherry, birch, or the like. The bottom face layer 14 may be of the same wood as the top face layer 13 or may be of a cheaper variety, particularly if the bottom face layer is not to be visible. In some installations, it might even be desirable to eliminate the bottom face layer 14 entirely.

As shown in FIG. 4, the core layer 112 is normally substantially thicker than the relatively thin face layers 13 and M. The face layers may be adhesively joined to the core layer by any of a number of commercially available adhesives following well-known fabricating practices. The respective grains of the face layers 13 and 114 are parallel to each other but extend in mutually crossing relationship, preferably at to the grain of the core layer 12.

Each panel has a plurality of relatively wide surface grooves 16 extending parallel to the grain of the face layer 13. The grooves define therebetween on the face layer 113, a plurality of strips 117 of the material of the face layer, which strips simulate the appearance of separate boards. An important aspect of the invention is the particular configuration of the grooves l6 and their width relative to the width of the strips 17 between the grooves. The grooves are from about seven sixteenths to about nine sixteenths inch in width. Preferably, the width of each groove is about one half inch. The grooves are spaced apart from about 3 to about 16 inches center to center, of the grooves. Preferably, the grooves are spaced apart from about 4 to about 12 inches center to center of the grooves. Because the studs of most walls are spaced apart 16 inches center to center, it is desirable to arrange the spacing of the grooves so that one groove falls every 16 inches across the width of the panel. In this manner, nails can be driven into the studs through thegrooves 16 rather than through the strips 17 of face material.

Each groove 16 extends through the face layer 13 into the core material 12. As best seen in FIG. d, each groove has a pair of opposed sidewalls l8 and 19 which extend parallel to each other at substantially right angles or normal to the outer surface of the face layer 13. The sidewalls l8 and 119 extend through only a portion of the thickness of the face layer I3. Each groove has a V-shaped bottom surface extending from the bottoms of the sidewalls l8 and 19 and declining downwardly through the remaining thickness of the face layer 13 to an apex 22 in the core layer. Thus, the V-shaped bottom surface has relatively narrow edge portions 23 and 24 defined by the face layer 13 and a relatively wide central portion 25 defined by the core layer.

The face layer 13 and the grooves 16 have contrasting decorative surface finishes. Each strip 17 is finished by a first decorative surface finish. Preferably, the finish is transparent or translucent to enhance the natural wood finish and permit the grain to be seen. The finish may be provided by a stain, varnish, lacquer, vinyl coating, or a combination thereof. At least the central portion 25 of each groove 16 has a second decorative surface finish which is preferably darker, but may be lighter, second finish of the groove 16 is also transparent or translucent to permit the stippled effect of the crosscut grain of the core layer to be seen. The narrow edge portions 23 and M of the bottom of the grooves 116 may be finished with the same first decorative surface finish of the strips 17, as shown. or alternatively with the second decorative surface finish of the central portion 25 of the grooves 16.

The combined factors of the relative widths of the grooves 16 and strips 17, the configuration of the grooves and the contrasting surface finishes applied to the grooves and strips are than the first finish of the strips 17. Preferably thecritical and collectively result in a greatly enhanced effect simulating separate boards. Such effect is apparent both to the eye and to the touch. Particularly important to the accomplishment of the proper feel are the upright sidewalls 18 and 19 of the grooves and the relatively sharp corner between the walls 18 and 19 and the respective surface of the adjoining face layer. The narrow edge portions 23 and 24 of the grooves are characterized by a smooth fine texture since their surfaces are parallel to the grain of a high quality hardwood. In contrast, the wide central portions 25 of the grooves have a rougher cross-grain texture. This contrast between the finer texture along the narrow groove edges and the coarser texture across the broad middle of the grooves produces an effect which sharply enhances the illusion of depth of the grooves and consequently the appearance of separate and independent boards. This effect is produced whether the narrow edge portions 23 and 24 have the first decorative surface finish like the strips 17 or the second decorative surface finish like the central portions 25 of the grooves.

While the invention has been described with reference to preferred specific embodiments, other modifications may be made by persons skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention which is determined solely by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A plywood panel comprising a relatively thick wood core layer and a relatively thin wood face layer adhesively joined to said core layer on at least one side thereof, said face layer and core layer having their respective grains extending in mutually crossing directions, said panel having a plurality of elongated surface grooves parallel to the grain of said face layer and from about seven sixteenths to about nine sixteenths inches in width extending through said face layer at locations spaced apart from about 3 to about 16 inches center to center of said grooves to define therebetween strips of said face layer simulating separate boards, said grooves having opposed side walls extending downwardly from the outer surface of said face layer and substantially normal thereto through only a portion of the thickness of said face layer and a V-shaped bottom surface extending from the bottoms of said sidewalls and inclined downwardly through the remaining thickness of said face layer to an apex in said core layer so that said V-shaped bottom surface has relatively narrow edge portions defined by said face layer and a relatively wide central portion defined by said core layer, said strips having a first decorative surafce finish and said grooves having a second decorative surface finish contrasting with said first surface finish.

2. A plywood wall panel according to claim 1 wherein said grooves are about one half inch in width.

3. A plywood wall panel according to claim I wherein said grooves are spaced apart from about 4 to about l2 inches center to center of said grooves.

4. A plywood wall panel according to claim 3 wherein said grooves are about one half inch in width. 

2. A plywood wall panel according to claim 1 wherein said grooves are about one-half inch in width.
 3. A plywood wall panel according to claim 1 wherein said grooves are spaced apart from about 4 to about 12 inches ceNter to center of said grooves.
 4. A plywood wall panel according to claim 3 wherein said grooves are about one-half inch in width. 